The long or short of it: Contract law and the interplay between words, customs and behaviour

Särtryck ur Festskrift till Svante O. Johansson

We, the writers of the below, decided to cooperate with respect to the present article. We have both in various contexts been involved in the drafting of contracts subject to both Swedish and English law. 
As is well-known, contracts may turn out to involve disagreement related to their interpretation. Words may mean different things depending on the context, including the commercial or trade setting in which a particular contract is concluded. Different issues may form part of a contractual pattern, where several factors may play a role, which at least to some extent varies between jurisdictions. Aside from what can be established in a semantic exercise, contractual patterns harbour a variety of issues, where trade usage as well as the behaviour by and between the parties may play a role in the search of meaning. 
Such factors taken together thus form one basis for the understanding of a contract. These are issues which may have to be considered by a judge, and in his capacity as Supreme Court Justice Svante O. Johansson has had to take related matters into regard in certain cases, and they have also had an impact, where his role as researcher or arbitrator has been involved. Whether this might also be true in those cases where he acted as average adjuster may be more doubtful.